Fourteen years ago, I relocated from France to join Microsoft, where I expanded my dream to do big things with technology. As General Manager for Interoperability Strategy at Microsoft today, I have the privilege of leading a talented team of people who draw inspiration from delivering the most value out of technology for the benefit of our customers. As I review the work Microsoft has been doing to support these efforts, I am continually impressed by the company’s commitment to addressing the customer realities of today’s mixed source IT environments.

You may know our team accomplishments from our Interoperability Bridges & Lab Center, but we do much more. We strive to take a holistic approach to interoperability and openness, always exploring new ways to engage and build deeper technology connections. As part of that effort, I’m extremely pleased to announce a new addition to my team – Gianugo Rabellino, who will be a Senior Director engaged directly with the broader open source world. In his role, Gianugo will work to foster relationships with the open source communities worldwide. I expect he will be a tremendous resource in helping identify ways open source communities and Microsoft can better work together and to help Microsoft product teams with their open source strategies.

Many of you may already know Gianugo as he’s been a well-known figure in open source communities for years. Given his previous roles as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sourcesense and Vice President of the Apache XML Project Management Committee, Gianugo possess a deep understanding of open source technologies and platforms. When he joins Microsoft this coming month, Gianugo will bring his wealth of experience and knowledge to a group of passionate and committed individuals who share his same enthusiasm for interoperability and openness between Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms.

Gianugo will be relocating from Italy to Redmond to do big things with technology. And he’ll go big with the support of my team, our company and many of you who follow our blog. Once he’s had time to settle into his new role, you can expect to hear from Gianugo directly about his plans around his new role, and the adventures in moving a young family from Italy to the Seattle area.